Make Easy Mashed Red Skinned Potatoes with simple ingredients in 30 minutes! It's the perfect side dish for busy weeknights or holiday meals!
Believe it or not, you can make the best mashed potatoes without heavy cream or a ton of butter.
The key is to use enough butter so you can taste it and substitute the rest with Greek yogurt. Let me show you how it's done! 🙌
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Why You'll Love This Recipe
- Easy Recipe This is the easiest way I've found to make mashed potatoes with great texture. This recipe is easy enough to serve with pork chops or chicken on busy weeknights and delicious enough to serve as a side with Christmas dinner.
- Simple Ingredients Potatoes, milk, butter, Greek yogurt, a splash of milk, salt and pepper. You can find all of these ingredients in the grocery store. If you want to add fresh herbs, like fresh chopped chives, or green onions you certainly can. It's just not necessary in my opinion 🙂
- Kid-Approved These mashed potatoes have a great flavor and texture that kids love. This easy recipe makes a perfect side dish for all kinds of kid-friendly meals like BBQ chicken or roasted pork tenderloin.
Dietitian Tips
Tip 1 In my experience, kids are much more likely to try a 'new food,' like cooked Brussels sprouts, when it's served with something familiar that they like, like mashed potatoes.
Tip 2 Instead of only focusing on what to remove from recipes or your diet for improved health, think about what you can add. For example, this recipe is made with butter (just not as much as many traditional mashed potato recipes); it's also made with Greek yogurt and red potato skins.
Potato skins add potassium and fiber, while Greek yogurt is lower in saturated fat than butter and is a good source of protein
Ingredient Notes
- Red Skinned Potatoes Good source of fiber, potassium, and carbohydrates. Red skin potatoes have a thin skin, so there is no need to peel them first. If you use Russet potatoes instead, you should peel the potato skin off first.
- Butter Use unsalted butter at room temperature. Or use melted butter. A small amount of butter is used to give this mashed potato recipe the taste you would expect from mashed potatoes. Butter also helps to give mashed potatoes a creamy texture.
- Greek Yogurt Use plain Greek yogurt. It is higher in protein and lower in saturated fat than butter. Greek yogurt helps to give these red skin mashed potatoes a creamy texture. You can use sour cream instead.
- Milk Skim milk, low-fat milk, or whole milk. You only need to add a small splash of milk to this recipe. I started measuring out two tablespoons when I make mashed potatoes because my 'splashes' added too much milk.
- Salt & Black Pepper For flavor. If you like garlicky mashed potatoes, feel free to mix in garlic powder.
How to Make Mashed Red-Skinned Potatoes
Here's an overview of the steps for making mashed potatoes with red skin the easy way. For the complete list of ingredients and full instructions, scroll down to the recipe card.
- Cut red skin potatoes into two-inch chunks.
- Fill a large pot with cold water. Place potatoes (chunks of potato) in the cold water, then bring the water to a boil over high heat. Once the water is boiling, reduce heat to medium, or to a setting where the potatoes are cooking at a low boil. Boil for 20-25 minutes, until potatoes are fork tender.
- Once the potatoes are cooked to fork tender, drain them. Return drained potatoes to the pot, place the butter in the center of the potatoes, and reduce the stove temperature to low heat. Then, use a potato masher mash the cooked potatoes and butter together.
- Add Greek yogurt and milk to the potatoes and continue mashing until you get a creamy but still chunky texture. Serve and enjoy!
What to Serve with Mashed Potatoes
- Italian Chicken
- BBQ Chicken
- Roasted Chicken
- Roasted Pork Tenderloin
- Thin Oven-Baked Pork Chops
- Alongside a holiday fruit salad, cranberry sauce, and roasted turkey for Thanksgiving!
Helpful Tips
- These are not fluffy mashed potatoes. Red potatoes do not make fluffy mashed potatoes because of their higher water content.
- Depending on your stove, you may want to reduce the heat to medium heat once the water starts to boil.
- Cooking time will vary depending on the size of the chunks of potato.
- Keep a close eye on the potatoes as they cook. Drain the potato chunks as soon as they are fork tender. Trust me when I say you do not want watery, mushy potatoes.
- I think these mashed potatoes have a great texture the way they are after mashing them with a potato masher. However, if you prefer smooth mashed potatoes, use a hand-held electric mixer to give them a smoother texture.
- Leaving the skins on is the easiest way to save time when making red mashed potatoes.
Questions You May Have
Red potatoes have a smooth texture, taste slightly sweet, and have a thin skin that mashes easily once cooked. Still, it's important to know that red skinned potatoes are not fluffy like russet potatoes and can get gooey when they are over-mashed.
Let leftover mashed potatoes cool to room temperature. Then, place leftovers in an airtight container and refrigerate for up to 2-3 days.
I don't recommend cooking whole red potatoes for mashed potatoes. Not only will they take longer to cook than smaller chunks of potato, but the outer layer will end up overcooked by the time the insides are cooked well enough to mash.
More Easy Side Dishes
- 5-Minute Carrot Hummus
- Easy Orzo with Broccoli
- 5-Minute Tajin and Watermelon
- Easy Roasted Beets in Foil
Did you make these red mashed potatoes and love them? Please let me know by leaving a ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ rating and comment below. A 5-star rating is the best compliment!
Don't forget to follow me on Pinterest and Instagram for more easy recipes with nutrition tips!
Easy Mashed Red Skinned Potatoes
Equipment
- Dutch Oven or large pot
- 1 Food masher or potato masher
Ingredients
- 2 pounds red skinned potatoes washed well and cut into one to two-inch chunks.
- ¼ cup Greek yogurt 2% or full fat plain Greek yogurt
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter at room temperature.
- ¼ cup milk 2% or whole milk.
- ¾ teaspoon salt sea salt or table salt
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
Instructions
- Fill a large pot with cold water and set it to heat at high heat.
- Cut red skinned potatoes into two-inch chunks, keeping the skins on. Add the potato chunks to the pot of water.2 pounds red skinned potatoes
- Bring the water to a boil. Reduce heat to medium or medium-high to continue cooking potatoes at a low rolling boil.
- Cook potatoes for 12-15 minutes, until they are fork tender. Start checking the potatoes for doneness after the first 10 minutes to avoid overcooked, mushy potatoes.
- Drain the potatoes and return cooked potatoes to the pot. Place softened butter in the center of the potatoes and reduce it to low heat. Use a potato masher or food masher to mash the potatoes and butter together.3 tablespoons unsalted butter
- Add the Greek yogurt, milk, salt, and pepper. Continue mashing for another minute or two. Finish stirring the potatoes with a spoon to smooth them out.¼ cup Greek yogurt, ¼ cup milk, ¾ teaspoon salt, ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- Taste the potatoes. See the notes section below for potential last-minute adjustments to the flavor and texture of these mashed potatoes. Serve and enjoy!
Notes
- Cooking time will be between 12-15 minutes. Cooking time will depend on the size of potato chunks and how long your water takes to get to boiling.
- Potatoes absorb water as they boil. So, because we are not all measuring each chunk of potato, your end result will vary slightly each time you make this recipe. For this reason, you may want to mash in add a little more milk, butter, or Greek yogurt to get the consistency you desire.
- I have made these red skinned mashed potatoes using whole milk Greek yogurt and low-fat yogurt. I've also used skim and 2% milk and they always turn out great.
- Whole milk Greek yogurt is thicker than low-fat Greek yogurt, so you may want to add one or two more tablespoons of milk when you make this recipe using whole milk Greek yogurt.
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